Add or Update Costs for Estimates or Change Orders
Overview
When an estimate or change order is created for a project, the next step is to add costs for materials, labor and trade partners.
After you create your estimate or change order, you will use the Proposal Builder to share it with your Client. Refer to the articles Share Estimates and Share Change Orders
In this article, we’ll cover how to add and update costs in an estimate or change order.
- Add a Cost Group
- Add a Cost Section (optional)
- Reordering Cost Sections and Cost Items
- Add a Cost Item
Add Costs
Estimates and change orders are organized by the Cost Groups, Cost Sections (optional), and Cost Items you added in Company Settings.
Add a Cost Group
A Cost Group contains the project's overarching step or phase, such as Demolition, Framing, and Drywall.
Click +Cost Group and select a Cost Group from the dropdown list.
After a Cost Group is added, you can then add Cost Sections (optional) and Cost Items.
Add a Cost Section (optional)
While Cost Sections are optional, they allow you to group a specific scope of the overall project, helping you organize large projects.
There are two ways to add a Cost Section:
Click the ＋Cost Section button at the bottom of the data lines and select a Cost Section from the dropdown list. The Cost Section is added to the last Cost Group you added.
- Or, you can click the ⊞Add Section icon within a specific Cost Group and select a Cost Section from the dropdown list.
Reordering Cost Sections and Cost Items
When creating an estimate or change order, you can click and drag a Cost Section above or below another Cost Section within a Cost Group.
Notes
- The Cost Items grouped within a Cost Section will move as a unit, provided you move the Cost Section above or below another and do not drop it in the middle of another Cost Section.
- If you drag a Cost Section along with Cost Items to a different Cost Group, a Warning popup opens:
Warning - You are moving section to another group! All selected cost items for section rows will be removed!
- If you select Yes, the Cost Item codes will be deleted and you will need to reassign them from the dropdown list available on the destination Cost Group.
You can also move just the Cost Section anywhere within the Cost Group on its own.
Example: Adding and reordering a cost section
Add a Cost Item
Cost Items are assigned to a Cost Group and are unique to that Cost Group.
There are two ways to add a Cost Item:
Click the ＋Cost Item button at the bottom of the data lines. The Cost Item will be added to the last Cost Group or Cost Section you added. Next, Add Cost Item Details.
- Click the +Cost Item Icon within a specific Cost Group or Cost Section (if used).
- You can click and drag the Cost Item within the Cost Group to reorder however you’d like.
- If you drag a Cost Item to a different Cost Group, a Warning pop-up opens:
Warning - You are moving row to another group! Row cost item will be removed!
- If you Yes, the Cost Item codes will be deleted and you will need to reassign them from the dropdown list available on the destination Cost Group.
- Next, Add Cost Item Details.
Add Cost Item Details
Enter or select items for the following fields in the Cost Item data line. Note: Some fields are populated based on Company Settings.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Description | Enter a brief description of the scope of work for the Cost Item. |
| Cost Item | Click or use TAB to select the Cost Item code and press ENTER.
|
| COG | Click or use TAB to select the COG type: Materials, Labor, or Trade Partners and press ENTER
|
| Quantity | Click or use TAB to enter the Quantity of the Cost Item and press ENTER.
|
| Unit Type | Click or use TAB to select the Unit Type for the COG selected and press ENTER:
|
| Unit Cost | Click or use TAB to enter the Unit Cost for the Cost Item and press ENTER. The Unit Cost is multiplied by Quantity to calculate Total cost. Labor
Materials
Trade Partners
|
| Cost | Auto-populated based on Quantity and Unit Cost. |
| Mark-Up % | Auto-populated based on Project Settings > Finance > Markup Charges, %; however, you can adjust any Cost Item markup you want Cost Plus & Fixed Cost contract types Buildwise makes it easy to set the percent markup for each COG category. To do this, refer to the article Set Up Markup Costs.
|
| Mark-Up $ | Auto-populated based on the Cost x Markup %. |
| Total | Auto-populated based on Cost + Markup $. |
| Allowance | When checked, the corresponding Cost Group along with the total cost will populate underneath the Scope of Work table in Estimate Proposals. |
| Client | Checked by default and indicates that the data row is shown in the client proposal.
|
Update or Delete Costs
Update Costs
You can update costs within your estimate or change order at any time while in Draft status.
Delete Costs
You can delete estimate or change order costs by deleting Cost Groups, Cost Sections, or Cost Items.
Find the Cost Group, Cost Section, or Cost Item you want to delete and click the garbage can icon at the end of the data line.
- If you delete a Cost Group or Cost Section row, a Delete? confirmation window opens.
Are you sure you want to delete [Cost Group/Cost Section]? All [group sections/section rows] will be removed as well.
- Click Yes to confirm. Note: If you delete the row in error, you can quickly undo the deletion.
- If you delete a Cost Item row, a Delete confirmation window opens.
Are you sure you want to delete the row?
- Click Yes to confirm. Note: If you delete the row in error, you can quickly undo the deletion.
UNDO Deletions
When you confirm deleting a Cost Group, Cost Section, or Cost Item row, a red notification with an UNDO button briefly appears at the bottom left of the screen. Click the UNDO button to retrieve your information.
Warning: If you do not click UNDO in time or leave the page, your information will be lost and cannot be retrieved.
View Summaries
At the bottom of every estimate and change order is a small summary block for the totals of all COGs, the total hours, the expected Margin %, and the overall total cost.
